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How Concrete is Recycled

How Concrete is Recycled

Products (aside from base course) are high quality aggregate, processed in steps with time and effort involved in crushing, pre-sizing, sorting, screening and contaminant elimination. The denominator is to start with clean, quality rubble in order to meet design criteria easily and ultimately yield a quality product that will go into end use.

Crushing and screening systems start with primary jaws, cones and/or large impactors taking rubble from 30 inches to 4 feet. A secondary cone or impactor may or may not need to be run, and then primary and secondary screens may or may not be used, depending upon the project, the equipment used and the final product desired. A scalping screen will remove dirt and foreign particles. A fine harp deck screen will remove fine material from coarse aggregate.

Further cleaning is necessary to ensure the recycled concrete product is free of dirt, clay, wood, plastic and organic materials. This is done by water floatation, hand picking, air separators, and electromagnetic separators.

Occasionally asphalt overlay or patch is found. A mixture of asphalt and concrete is not recommended but small patches are not detrimental.

The more care that is put into the quality, the better product you will receive. With sound quality control and screening you can produce material without having to wash it as with virgin aggregate which may be ladened with clay and silt.